There are numerous alcoholic beverages which are obtained by fermenting various sugar-containing juices, with the degree of alcohol in the end product depending on the amount of sugar in the initial juice.
Some drinks, particularly whisky and wine, are often diluted with some quantity of water just before being drunk.
With other drinks, and particularly with beer, hygienic or other considerations make it desirable to obtain a drink which has a very low degree of alcohol, but which otherwise retains the taste of the conventional drink.
For this purpose, proposals have been made to reduce the alcohol content of beer by means of reverse osmosis or hyperfiltration, or even by means of ultrafiltration. This is based on the observation that the concentrate left behind after reverse osmosis or after ultrafiltration includes most of the substances that give the drink its beer taste. By adding water to such a concentrate, a drink is obtained which has a very low degree of alcohol but which retains the taste of beer.
The present invention stems from what might be termed opposite considerations.